ONESIMUS FILES

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (Jesus)

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

I see this blog is still getting almost 1000 page views per month despite the fact I've posted nothing new here for some time.

I've been concentrating more on my new wordpress blog in recent weeks. At the moment that one is easier for me to access, even though it seems more difficult to use than this one. As I've said before something has changed. I can only access the dashboard of this blog and not the actual blog pages. As a result I can't even add comments or reply to comments.

Most of my posting to the blog is done via a work computer and either blogger have made some changes or the work IT system has been changed. Access to most blogs found on blogger has been blocked, the automated reason given is something called "placeholders". I don't have a clue what that means.

This also means that I can't view other blogs with a blogspot address, so unfortunately, if you have a blog on that system I can't access your blog either. I therefore haven't been able to read some of my favourite blogs for some time.

I'll keep this blog going and will make an occasional entry like this one, but unless the situation changes I'll be posting most things on wordpress from now on. This is the link to that blog:

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

The present church is powerless but it won’t admit there’s a problem. It continues with a ”business as usual” attitude and most people will remain satisfied and not be challenged. The role taken by today’s church is one of justifying and reinforcing our status quo – making us feel comfortable about ourselves and where we are...

Friday, April 13, 2012

From the archives of this blog, but still very relevant as I found out today. I saw comments, expressing similar ideas to these being deleted from a blog that is open to public comment.
If that blog was entirely someone's personal space I would make no issue of it, but the owner is a reasonably well known christian who uses that site as a promotional space for his own ministry.

--------------

False Christs, False Anointings.

The church today idolises the “anointed” Christian Superstar. These Superstars can be individual big name preachers, or they can be well known centres of “REVIVAL” or “REFRESHING”. Many Christians put a lot of faith in these Superstars and invest significant quantities of time and money in seeking the anointed ministry they offer.

I have to confess I was one of those seekers. I’d run from conference to conference; from speaker to speaker, and I’d buy as many of the tapes and books I could afford (I admit the “tapes” reference probably shows my age!). However, looking back with honesty, I can see that I never received what I was led to expect – because my expectations were misdirected. Not only was I being careless by running here and there to seek an imparted blessing from God, I was being disobedient!

It is now clear to me that chasing after “anointed” ministers, or groups that claim to be spreading “the anointing”, is the VERY thing that Jesus warned believers against in Matthew 24:23-26

Then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ! Or, There! Do not believe it.

For false Christs (anointed ones) and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders; so much so that, if it were possible, they would deceive even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand.

Therefore if they shall say to you, Behold, He is in the desert! Do not go out. Behold, He is in the secret rooms! Do not believe it.

Taking into account that the title “Christ” means anointed one, how many of these big name preachers are claiming to be specially anointed? So when we rush off to places because the anointed ones are there… we have ignored Jesus’ warning and we have opened ourselves to deception.

When we rush off to conferences to hear their imported “anointed” guest preachers (usually at a price of course) – or to any other place where “anointed” ministers are advertised we are disobeying Jesus’ SPECIFIC and clear warning and opening ourselves to deception. We don’t need to chase the anointing – in fact we are warned and commanded not to do so.

The term “anointing” is used in scripture ONLY to refer to the anointing of believers with the Holy Spirit (or a literal anointing with oil as a type of the Holy Spirit). There are NO alternative anointings in scripture and no anointings by any other name. I suggest great suspicion be shown when you hear of any specifically named anointing (for example “warrior anointing”). I cannot see scripture supporting such a thing. The same goes for individuals who claim they have a special anointing not shared by others.

As Christians we are no less anointed than any other Christian no matter how famous or high profile they may be. If you are in Christ “the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true and no lie, and as He has taught you, abide in Him.” (1 Jn 2:27)

God’s anointing isn’t increased according to the level of celebrity someone attains, neither does it increase according to the amount of TV air time they have. We do not need to seek the “anointing” of other people. Instead we turn to the source of the “anointing” – our Heavenly Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Friday, March 30, 2012

This is what my wife Gloria wrote regarding her reaction to her dad’s recent death. This is a paragraph taken from a letter she sent to her friends in which she tells them of her loss:

Tim said to me that he had dreaded the time that I would lose a parent, because he knew what I was like several years ago. I would have been hysterical, and would have had panic attacks, crying all the time and no doubt go into depression. However I have changed with the help of God, by putting my faith and trusting in Jesus before anything else. It doesn’t mean that bad things don’t happen to us, but by having faith in Jesus and truly believing that He is our Messiah, gives us the strength to get through those hard times knowing that we are not alone. I turned my back on God once and felt very alone, and promise that I will not do it again. God gives me hope which I haven’t had for a very long time, and it truly is a comfort to me. I feel for those that do not know God, and I pray that they seek God before it is too late as we only have this life time to reach out to Him.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

I’ve clearly done very little blogging in recent months. My four blogs on this account have been neglected for some time, partly due to access difficulties. But I’ve also been very quiet on my new wordpress blog. Most entries there have been short.

This year hasn’t had the best start. So far there’s been my father in law’s death, followed by my newly widowed mum-in-law being evacuated from approaching flood waters. In addition to those major events there were quite a few smaller scale difficulties that I would have liked to avoid.

But despite the clear negative aspects to all of these events, we not only survived them, we found ourselves encouraged and uplifted.

I know my wife would have been an emotional wreck if she had lost one of her parents several years ago, so something has clearly changed. She was able not only to cope with her own grief; she supported her mum through the funeral arrangements, the funeral itself and through her first two weeks without her husband.

She later wrote to several friends to tell her of her father’s death and detailed the reason for her strength. I hope to post part of that letter before too long sharing in her words the change that made the difference.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

For some time now I've been unable to access the main page of my blog and can't add replies in the comment box.
In response to Kevin Jackson's comment related my last article I want to make it clear I was not referring to David Pawson. Not only did I keep the link to Pawson's ministry in the side bar, I've added another (thanks Kevin) through which ALL of Pawson's sermons are now available for free download.

Recommended Reading

God's Promise to Abraham

“I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” Genesis 22:16-18

God's command and promise to Israel

This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the LORD Almighty.